Device for controlling the movement of a cover of a vehicle sliding roof

ABSTRACT

A device for controlling the movement of a cover of a vehicle sliding roof includes a guide track (6) along which a carriage (3) is adapted to be moved with a driving cable (20). A swing-out pin (7) is provided on the carriage (3) for engaging with a slotted link (9) joined to the cover (8) and relocating the cover (8) by an angular movement (lifting movement) with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle whilst shifting in the swing-out slotted link (9). A swivelling lever (2), joined to the cover (8) via a cover holder (1), is swivelled by the angular movement of the cover (8) into a locking position restraining the carriage from movement counter-directed to the lifting movement.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a device for controlling the movement of acover for a vehicle sliding roof.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the invention, self-acting locking is achieved for the roof untilthe lifting movement thereof is ended.

Furthermore, a defined axis of rotation or defined pivotal point ispositionally determined on the front edge of the cover during theangular movement when swinging outwards (lifting movement).

A raising of the front edge of the cover from the seal portion when theroof aperture is opened is achieved before the cover is shifted, and alowering of the front edge into the seal portion is achieved after theclosing movement.

A rocking lever combines the operations of cooperation during thepositional determination of the cover pivotal point on the front edge ofthe cover, raising and lowering of the cover, and creation of therestraint from attendant movement of the roof when swinging outwards sothat they are achieved with one single constructional component.

When the front edge of the cover is raised, the rear edge of the coveris slighly lowered, so that during its longitudinal displacement withrespect to the roof surface of the motor vehicle the cover has a veryflat angle of rise or extends substantially parallel to the roofsurface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An example of embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the Figures.These show:

FIGS. 1 to 4: various operational positions of the device forcontrolling the cover movement;

FIG. 5: a cross-section through a guide track for the carriage movement;

FIG. 6: an overall view of the control device in which various coverpositions and positions, in particular the two end positions, are shown;and

FIG. 7: an exploded view of the essential component parts of the exampleof embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As is evident particularly from the exploded view of the example ofembodiment in FIG. 7, the device for controlling the movement of avehicle sliding roof cover 8 (FIG. 1-4) has a cover holder 1. In thecover holder 1 a swing-out slotted link 9 is provided into which aswing-out pin 7 on a carriage (transport carriage) 3 projects.Furthermore, a control slotted link 12 is provided on the cover holder.Into this projects a control pin 13 of a swivelling lever 2 guided in alongitudinal guide track 6 (guide rail). The control slotted linkextends at approximately a right angle to the longitudinal direction andhas a small curvature or a slight bend. Sliding blocks 19 are mounted onboth sides of the swivelling lever 2 for guiding the swivelling lever 2and may consist of a rubber base body. Sliding caps 24 of plastic areplaced on the elastic sliding blocks 19. The elastic sliding blocks forma bearing pivot 14 (sliding bearing pivot) for the swivelling lever 2which is slidable within the longitudinal guide track 6 (FIGS. 1-4).

The swivelling lever 2 is thus formed as a two armed lever. The firstlever arm 21 has at its end a lock actuating member in the form of alocking pin 10. The second lever arm 22 possesses at its front end alifting means designed as a rocking device in the form of rocking levers4 disposed on both sides. The rocking levers are one-armed levers andpossess a shaped part 28 which may be rounded or designed as a roller.The rocking levers cooperate with guide means 23 having the form offront guide faces, offset from the horizontal, on the guide rail 6.

The swing-out slotted link 9 and the control slotted link 12 areprovided in a guide portion 25, projecting vertically downwards, of thecover holder 1 that has a horizontal mounting plate. The swing-outslotted link 9 has the substantial portion thereof extending inclinedlydownwards from the front to the rear and thus determines the liftingmotion (swing-out motion) of the cover 8. A receiving fork 15 isprovided at the front end of the guide portion 25 to receive the frontend of the swivelling lever 2. For this, a bearing pin is provided atthe front end of the swivelling lever 2 to form a locating axis 17. Therocking levers 4 are also pivotally supported on both-sided extensionsof the bearing pin extending along the axis 17.

The carriage 3 can be driven for movement in the guide rail 6 with theaid of a crank handle or an electric motor drive. The drive istransmitted via a driving cable 20. On the driving cable 20 a slidingblock 30 is located that is inserted into the transport carriage 3 fortransmission of the movement.

A further movement control member is provided on the swivelling lever 2in the form of the control pin 13. This is located on a further leverarm 31 at the side of the first lever arm 21. The control pin 13 isjoined to the swivelling lever 2 in such manner that it engages in thecontrol slotted link 12 at the guide portion 25 of the cover holder 1.Friction-diminishing rollers may be provided on the locking pin 10 aswell as on the control pin 13.

During movement of the transport carriage 3 in the guide rail 6 acombined operation results from the engagement of the swing-out pin 7 inthe swing-out slotted link 9, from the engagement of the control pin 13in the control slotted link 12, from the reception of the front leverarm end 11 in the receiving fork 15 on the guide portion 25, and fromthe locking pin 10 in such manner that in a first retracted position,with the cover 8 swung-out (FIG. 2), the mechanical components arelocked to each other, and with further displacement of the carriage(FIG. 3) the cover front edge 27 is raised by the swivelling lever 2. Inthis, the pivotal point of the swing-out movement (movement from FIG. 1to FIG. 2) is shifted to the cover front edge 27.

Various operating positions of the transport carriage 3 and theswivelling lever 2 coupled therewith, and of the functional membersdisposed thereon are described in more detail with reference to theFIGS. 1 to 4.

By actuation of the hand crank or electric drive the transport carriage3 sliding in the guide rail 6 is moved via the driving cable 20. Thetransport carriage 3 engages through the swing-out pin 7 with theswing-out slotted link 9 of the cover holder. The cover holder 1 and thecover 8 are raised at the rear by the longitudinal movement of thetransport carriage 3 (FIG. 2) via this swing-out slotted link 9.

The pivotal point of this lifting movement of the cover 3 is located onthe cover front edge 27 and is formed with the aid of the controlslotted link 12 and the receiving fork 15 in the cover holder. In this,the control pin 13 moves in the control slotted link 12 from an upperposition (FIG. 1) into a middle position (FIG. 2) in which the controlslotted link has a slight bend. During the lifting movement the lockingpin 10 is retained in the locking position by a guide track 32 on thetransport carriage 3. In this position the locking pin 10 urges therocking lever 4 with its rocking lever portion 28 around the pivotalpoint 14 of the sliding block bearing of the swivelling lever 2 into anopening 26 at the front end of the guide rail 6. This prevents the cover8 on the transport carriage 3 from being taken along in the longitudinaldirection during the lifting movement of the cover 8. This is achievedby the swivel lever 2 and the cover holder joined thereto being retainedat their front end by the rocking lever 4. Hereby the restraint of thelongitudinal movement of the cover 8 during the swing-out is achieved byself-acting locking.

After the end of this swing-out movement the swing-out pin 7 in theswing-out slotted link 9 abuts against the rear stop (FIG. 2), and thecontrol pin 13 is located at the bend position in the control slottedlink 12. The cover 8 can maintain this swung-out position.

During a further longitudinal movement the transport carriage 3 takeswith it the swivelling lever 2 in the longitudinal direction via thecover holder 1 and the control pin 13 brought into the lowest positionin the control slotted link 12. At the beginning of the longitudinalmovement of the cover the swivelling lever 2 also tilts around thebearing pivot 14 with the locking pin 10 downwards, and with the rockinglever bearing pivot, lying on the receiving axis 17 at the lever end 11,upwards. The locking pin 10 plunges downwards behind the end of theguide track 32 of the transport carriage 3 and is drawn-in below a guideridge 16 (FIG. 3, 4) of the guide rail 6. In this position, thetransport carriage 3 is clamped to the swivelling lever 2 via the coverholder 1.

This first longitudinal and rocking movement of the swivelling lever 2is produced by the rocking lever 4 and the rocking lever portion 28which, for example, is designed as a rocking lever roller or formed onthe same piece, pivotally supported on the pin extending along thelocating axis 17 of the swivel lever. In this, the rocking lever 4cooperates with inclined or rectangularly offset guide means at thefront end of the guide rail 6. In the illustrated example of embodimentthe guide means are formed by a rectangularly offset portion 23 of theupper, horizontally extending rail portion of the guide rail 6 and alower, rectangularly offset rail portion 5. The opening 26 is formedbetween both rail portions at the beginning of the guide rail 6. In thecorner between the upper, horizontally extending rail portion of theguide rail 6 and the offset rail portion 23 a bearing pivot for therocking lever 4 is formed which forms a pivotal point 29 for theswivelling movement or rocking movement of the rocking lever 4 duringthe movement from the position of FIGS. 1 and 2 into the position ofFIG. 3. During this movement the rocking lever portion 28 located in theopening 26 in FIGS. 1 and 2 is lifted out of the opening 26. The pivotalpoint 29 is located above the pivotal point or the bearing pivot 14 ofthe two-armed swivelling lever 2. The rectangularly offset front guiderail ends 5 and 23 may both or each singly also have an inclined shapefor defining the opening 26. During the movement of the rocking lever 4from the position illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 into the positionillustrated in FIG. 3, the front lever arm end 11 of the two-armedswivelling lever 2 is raised. Hereby the front edge 27 of the cover 8 isalso raised with simultaneous lowering of the rear portion of the cover8.

During further longitudinal displacement of the carriage 3 in thedirection towards the end position illustrated in FIG. 6, the transportcarriage 3, the sliding caps 24 which together with the sliding blocks19 form the bearing pivot 14 of the swivelling lever 2, and the rockinglever 4 move along guide tracks 18 (FIG. 5) of the guide rail 6. Thedriving cable 20 extends along a guide channel 33. The locking pin 10slides along the guide ridge 16.

The rocking lever 4 is in an upwardly abutting position in the rail 6and rests against the horizontal surface of the rail 6. Thereby therocking lever 4 with the rocking lever portion 28 slides withoutresistance by any impeding portion the guide rail 6 as far as the rearend position shown in FIG. 6 in which the cover 8 is removed from theroof aperture.

I claim:
 1. A device for controlling the movement of a vehicle slidingroof cover comprising:a guide track, a carriage coupled to the slidingroof cover and movable along said guide track, a drive means for drivingsaid carriage, lifting means for swivelling the sliding roof coveraround a bearing axis into a raised position, and a guide means forguiding a cover front edge of the sliding roof cover for pivotingmovement when swivelling the sliding roof cover around the bearing axisand imparting to the cover front edge a lifting movement during atransition between swivelling and longitudinal shifting movement of thecover, wherein said guide means includes a swivelling lever and a guideportion of a cover holder joining said swivelling lever to said slidingroof cover, and said swivelling lever includes a lock actuating membercooperating with the carriage during the lifting movement of the coverfront edge to restrain a longitudinal shift of the cover.
 2. A deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the swivelling lever is designed as atwo-armed lever having a first lever arm with said lock actuatingmember, said lock actuating member resting against the carriage to holdthe swivelling lever in its position and restrain the longitudinal shiftof the cover during the lifting movement.
 3. A device according to claim2, wherein while swivelling the sliding roof cover, a second lever armof the two-armed lever, together with a control slotted link on thecover holder in which a control pin joined to the swivelling leverengages, positionally determines a pivotal point of the pivotingmovement.
 4. A device according to claim 3, wherein the lock actuatingmember is provided at the end of the first lever arm, and an end of thesecond lever arm is locked to the guide track to restrain thelongitudinal shift.
 5. A device according to claim 3, wherein thelifting means includes a swing-out pin provided on the carriage forengaging in a swing-out slotted link joined to the sliding roof coverand shifting in the swing-out slotted link to relocate said sliding roofcover during said pivoting movement.
 6. A device according to claim 5,wherein the end of the second lever arm and the control pin, which isguided in the control slotted link, positionally determine said pivotalpoint during shifting of the swing-out pin in the swing-out slottedlink.
 7. A device according to claim 3, and further comprising guideelements provided on the guide track, the second lever arm being raisedaround a bearing pivot when the longitudinal shifting movement of thesliding roof cover begins and being lowered around said bearing pivot atan end of a closing movement.
 8. A device according to claim 7, whereinsaid guide means includes a rocking lever cooperating with the guideelements and provided at an end of the second lever arm for controllingthe lifting movement of the cover front edge.
 9. A device according toclaim 8, wherein the rocking lever is swivelled during said liftingmovement.
 10. A device according to claim 1, wherein the swivellinglever has a bearing supported on the guide track.
 11. A device accordingto claim 3, and further comprising a receiving fork for joining thecover holder to an end of the second lever arm.
 12. A device accordingto claim 2, wherein the carriage is engaged with the lock actuatingmember during part of a closing movement.
 13. A device according toclaim 9, wherein the guide track has an opening in which a formed-onportion of the rocking lever is held when the cover is closed and untilthe pivoting movement of the cover has been completed to restrain thelongitudinal shift of the cover.
 14. A device according to claim 13,wherein the guide track also defines a pivotal point for the rockinglever.
 15. A device according to claim 14, wherein the pivotal point islocated above a bearing of the swivelling lever which is supported onthe guide track.